Strings to His Bow

Sonny Bill Williams, 24, who has signed an 18th-month contract with the New Zealand Rugby Union, is considering a return to NRL after the next season or to the ring, “if the boxing bug doesn’t catch him first,” Brad Walter writes for The Sydney Morning Herald. However, Williams, who made his professional boxing debut a year ago, said though becoming a full-time boxer had genuine appeal, his immediate focus was trying to break into the All Blacks team for the 211 World Cup in New Zealand. “Right now it is all about rugby but you don’t have to be a rocket scientist to say that it is an option,” Williams said. “If there is one thing I have learnt since I left the NRL it is that as a professional athlete, it is always good to have things up your sleeve.”